I know some pw regulars were especially keen to see the Wachowskis’ film adaptation of the 60s Japanese cult cartoon, so here’s a non-spoilery review.
Speed Racer is getting mostly bad reviews, with some critics really hating it. I completely understand why, but cannot bring myself to hate it, and not just because I love the original cartoon.ÂÂ
The script is a disaster. It is on the one hand over-plotted, with too many bit characters shuffling in and out whose relevance is never fully explained. On the other hand, it often fails in basic exposition in ways that distance you from the movie.ÂÂ
For example, a number of the bad reviews find the Wachowskis’ CGI “car-fu” so unrealistic that they never feel as though the characters are in real peril. I can see that, though there were times where I was sucked into the action. I did not have as much of an issue with the action here being less realistic than the original cartoon as with the failure of the script to establish a particular level of cartoon action, so that you know what the rules of “car-fu” are.ÂÂ
Thus, the race that works best is the road rally in the second act, because we instinctively understand the more realistic environment better. Indeed, it is the midsection of the movie that most closely tracks the epic scope of some of the cartoon’s more memorable episodes. The track races which bookend the film are less satisfying, not only for seeming more confined, but also because their exposition is non-existent, leaving the viewer clueless as to the relative import of the twists, turns, obstacles, etc. As Chuck Berry once wrote about modern jazz; played too fast, you lose the beauty of the melody.
Speaking of music, the Wachowskis would even have done well to take the remixes of the Speed Racer music that plays over the end credits and bring them into the movie itself. After all, the limited animation of the 60s original required that the tension and drama be carried in no small part by that music.  There are times when this type of cartoon or superhero adaptation is better served by keeping the original music out, for fear of losing the movie’s tone. This is not one of those occasions.
All of that being said, the movie is a psychedelic visual feast. There is plenty of racing action for the kids; the one criticism I have read and don’t get is the claim that the movie is boring (I suspect this really means the critic felt too distanced from the movie by its level of unreality).  There are also some solid family messages for a family movie. I found myself leaving the theater liking it, despite its major flaws. But I would have loved to love it.
The graphics from the trailers make me worry that many seizures will be induced. The Matrix movies could work because the insane action was in normalish light. Put cars and tracks and such into insane situations and add so much motion and flashy lights and it just sounds like I’d get a damn headache or go catatonic. Then again, I really hate driving in many instances, so maybe I was never the targeted audience for this. Glad to hear I won’t be missing too much as I miss this.
Now give me Will Ferrell against Sleestaks. That’s when I’ll get suckered into reliving my childhood.
For whatever reason, I utterly rejected the original cartoon. I hated it. I avoided any exposure to the Japanese animes.
It must be the bright, shiny eyes. Spooky.
For me, in the ’60’s, it was the Road Runner. And the Pink Panther. Later, Fat Albert. Heh Heh Heh.
I’ve really been looking forward to the seizures, not so much the “plot” – I want to feel that old crazy” what the bloop is this anime stuff from outer space” that facinated me in kiddydom.
the movie is a psychedelic visual feastis pretty much what I wanted to hear. That’s where fail is what I couldn’t bear.
[emphasis added]
Serr8d, you are so right-on. The original was badly drawn, jerky, and never realistic. I watched it because it was so bad it was funny, the same reason I sat through episodes of Ultraman in which the heroes of the Science Patrol wandered around Tokyo tracking down super villains in a Corvair. That’s entertainment.
Just watching the trailers, I keep waiting for the Mach 5 to be hit by a giant pinball and flipped into the ball return.
As far as I’m concerned, the attempt to make a live-action version of anime should be registered in the DSM-IV and the people who do it should be committed to an institution.
And I don’t mean the Smithsonian.
Yawn…
Sorry
Emile Hirsch is really cute but I think he’s too short for me.
I had some trepidation in seeing this movie. I have not been a fan of the recreating classics genre, nor the over reliance on CGI… I just believe that they miss the weight or physics of real “things”. However, I do enjoy films that go all the way in the other direction and do not try to mimic real world. Other green screen movies like Sin City or 300 which transport the viewer into another plain and never try to apologize. Eye candy or an amusement ride, your choice, it is not intended to be anything but what it is.
Oh, and it has Christina Ricci.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a favorite of mine because of greenscreen. It’s a pulp hoot, a comic book with a gutsy gal, a nervy guy, a geeky sidekick, Shangri-La, an evil German scientist, a hot fembot…and people having the ability to stand perfectly still while hovering platforms zoom from zero to sixty in 2 seconds!